Minimum, multiple, common

The Pinacoteca de São Paulo and the São Paulo State Secretariat for Culture present, from May 19th through September 17th, 2018, the group show Mínimo, múltiplo, comum [Minimum, multiple, common], held on the second floor of the Pina Estação building. The exhibition brings together more than one hundred works of art by six artists from different generations and cultural circles: Amadeo Lorenzato (1900-1995), Chen Kong Fang (1931- 2012), Eleonore Koch (1926), Marina Rheingantz (1983), Patricia Leite (1955) and Vânia Mignone (1967).

Curated by Pinacoteca’s own curator José Augusto Ribeiro, the show exhibits works that are characterized by a simple figuration, both flat and synthetic, which at times approaches the limit of abstraction. The images often reproduce scenes of loneliness – by conveying the isolation of individuals and objects or through empty spaces, devoid of human presence. Produced from the 1960s onwards, the ensemble encompasses almost seven decades of pictorial art in Brazil, starting from the first exhibitions of Koch, Fang and Lorenzato – whose oeuvre were misinterpreted as variations of “primitivism” – to our present time, when the contemporary art circuit values and embraces, without mediations, works by artists who were previously classified as “popular” or “naive”.

“Many of these works continue to be regarded as 'naive' or 'popular', mainly due to the elongated spatial constructions, parallel to the two-dimensional plane of the support, devoid of perspective; on account of often asymmetrical figures condensed to the essential nature of the representation, and the decentered compositions with tense balances. Aspects that describe fundamental qualities of modern painting since the end of the 19th century, and which are present, in quite different ways, in relevant works by practicing artists in the last 20 years," José Augusto Ribeiro observes.

The works that compose the exhibition belong to over 60 public and private collections in São Paulo and Belo Horizonte. From this ensemble, seven are housed in the Pinacoteca, six of which constitute the institution’s own collection (four works by Lorenzato, a series of paintings about wood engravings by Vânia Mignone and a new piece by Patricia Leite titled "Gruta" [Cave/Cavern], which has never been shown before, recently incorporated to the collection as a gift from Iguatemi São Paulo), and a painting that comprises the Nemirovsky Collection, Mínimo, múltiplo, comum encompasses close to twenty works by each participating artist, a selection that aims to provide a representative and broad overview of all of their trajectories. This is the first time that a public institution in São Paulo presents such a significant group of works by Amadeo Lorenzato – an artist whose exhibitions only took place in Belo Horizonte while he was alive, and who has among his admirers the nationally and internationally acclaimed Minas Gerais-born artist Amílcar de Castro. It is also the first time that important groups of works by Chen Kong Fang (dated from 1994) and by Eleonore Koch (dated from 2009) are presented to the public.

Also featured in the show are several new works by practicing Brazilian artists like Vânia Mignone, who will participate in the 33th edition of the Bienal de São Paulo, and others who have gained prominence in the international circuit, such as Patricia Leite, who recently had a solo exhibition in Brussels (Belgium), and Marina Rheingantz, who is currently holding a solo show in New York.

Mínimo, múltiplo, comum remains on show until September 17th, and is being held in the second floor of Pina Station - Largo General Osório, 66. Visitation is open Wednesday to Monday, from 10 am to 6 pm - last admission 5:30 pm - and admission is free for all visitors.